If you're interested in buying euro-denominated bonds, the obvious place to look is Frankfurt.

One good starting place would be a German newspaper like the Handelsblatt (Germany's leading business daily), and look down the listing of eurobonds to find one which suits you (based on maturity, Moody/S&P rating of issuer, etc). If you can't get a Handelsblatt, one of the other leading German newspapers e.g. Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung will give similar info to get started. Never mind if you can't read German - lists of prices are a fairly universal language! It's not hard to figure out which column is 'yield to maturity' etc. One thing you wouldn't guess easily is that a small 'b' after the price ('bezahlt' = 'paid') are the ones with most volume (at least that day) so it might be better to pick from those. I presume that in most big US cities, you can buy a German newspaper.

Another way to start would be from a search using an online broker's web site. I normally use www.comdirect.de . The address for the general search facility (not restricted to customers only) is http://informer2.comdirect.de/de/suche/main.html . All you need is a couple of words of German: 'Suchbegriff' is what you're searching for, like an issuer. That's only useful if you've got one or two in mind, and that's why a newspaper is a better place to start. 'Wertpapierart' is the type of security: choose 'Anleihe' (= bond). 'Borse' = stock exchange: I normally just choose Frankfurt for bonds.

However, if you don't speak German, you are probably better off to use a full price service from one of the big banks which cater specifically to foreign customers. For example, at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, contact Frau Weber, direct number 0049-69-13627853. The full price service is still not expensive: commission is 0.5% (discount brokers charge half that, or less).

I can't tell you anything about US tax implications, but there's no withholding tax on eurobonds.

If you reply with a question, also select the box 'e-mail reply to author' because I don't look at this board very often.

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